The changing face of assessment: swings and roundabouts.
Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: ‘The novelties of one generation are only the resuscitated fashions of the generation before.’ George Bernard Shaw. From the preface to Three Plays for Puritans .
This quotation aptly reflects the tensions in the pursuit of a ‘Holy Grail’ ideal assessment. In the early 20th century the goal was integration. Flexner, the late 19th century American educationalist, held the firm belief that assessment must focus on a student's ability to assess in full ‘a concrete case to collect all the relevant data and to suggest the positive procedures applicable to the conditions disclosed’.1 Long cases and oral presentations were in favour. Subsequently, the logisitics of ensuring fair and equitable challenge across cases and during unstructured vivas led to an increasing focus on more objective testing methodologies (some believe at the cost of being too reductionist), such as multiple choice questions (MCQs) and objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), using simulation rather than reality. A century later, the international focus is on the need to assess doctors' performance, highlighted by Miller's now famous pyramid,2 within the context of their work (that is, what a doctor ‘does’). The aim is to ensure that more formative processes support the individual's needs during training. Fashion has swung almost full circle.3 We are back to searching for more integrated approaches, using real patients.
Yet much of this change has lacked evidence. We know little of the psychometrics of the original long case and orals.4 The logistics of work-based assessment are still to be explored. Two contrasting papers in this month's Journal are to be welcomed. Simpson and Ballard have investigated …
Source: Europe PMC (PubMed Central)
Author: Val Wass
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2021680360